BoatBanter.com - Marina fire destroys 25 boats near Orlando

Scary story!
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http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/...10680.story?co
ll=orl-home-

DELAND -- A fire swept through a St. Johns River marina Friday morning,
destroying 25 boats, damaging others and critically injuring one person.
Another person was missing.

Many of vessels at the Boat Show Marina in DeLand were houseboats, while
others were fishing boats, Volusia County spokeswoman Mary Dorn said. The
fire began about 2 a.m. and burned for more than five hours.

"When I looked out of my little port hole, I thought everything was on fire
around me," boat owner Don Luken said. "All I could see was orange. I walked
up to the wheelhouse of the boat and the heat was coming right through my
windshield. I could feel it standing four feet back. I grabbed my money, my
phone and my dog and we got out of here."

A boat owner was critically injured trying to fight the fire, Dorn said. He
was airlifted to Orlando Regional Medical Center with third- and
second-degree burns to his hand and shoulder and a severely injured foot
from stepping on glass, Dorn said. A second person was treated at the scene
and released, she said.

Dorn said firefighters were able to save about 50 boats, but many of them
suffered heat damage such as melted plastic.

Several sinking boats leaked fuel into the river, she said, so the
Department of Environmental Protection placed containment buoys in the water
to catch the spillage.

"A lot of it obviously burned off in the fire, but some petroleum products
have been released due to the boats sinking," DEP official Chris Russel told
WKMG-TV.

State fire marshals were on the scene in hopes of determining the cause of
the fire.

Progress Energy also shut down power in the area to help firefighters, who
had been hampered by falling power lines.
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Victor